News feminist philosophers can use

Day: September 14, 2011

This is the story of what happened to a woman from my hometown when she dared to fly on September 11th despite being Arab and Jewish, and when she had the misfortunate to sit next to similarly suspicious dark-skinned passengers. I don’t know why I am so deeply affected by the fact that this is someone from my hometown. After all, I’m not thinking it could have been me– I’m far too pale. But it could so easily have been one of my dearest childhood friends. Maybe that’s why. Or maybe it’s just a well-told story that brings home just how far we are from those ideals we claim to care so much about. Those &*%& Republicans want us to think freedom is about not being forced to give medical care to dying people. [Many expletives deleted.]

SUNY Press is pleased to announce a new biannual journal: philoSOPHIA, a philosophical journal that intertwines the rich traditions and conceptual resources of continental philosophy and feminist theory.

The journal is edited by Elaine Miller and Emily Zakin, both Associate Professors of Philosophy at Miami University of Ohio.

The inaugural issue features essays that explore animal imagery in Freud’s works, specifically with reference to the elision of the figure of the sister and the daughter in Freud’s works; argue that contemporary deconstructive accounts of corporeal vulnerability can be illuminated by Beauvoir’s account of the ethical problems posed by the experiential ambiguities of violence; bring Irigaray and Chodorow together to compare and partially synthesize their visions of the maternal and of mother-daughter relations; trace Kristeva’s engagement with Plato; and argue that Beauvoir’s account of aging illuminates not only becoming woman, but also an unbecoming of masculinity.

The editors invite submissions from scholars who work at the intellectual and philosophical intersections of continental philosophy and feminist theory in the hope of opening a wider dialogue around a diverse array of questions concerning sexual difference, sexual identity, women writing and being written about in philosophy, and the interrogation of canonical texts.

Almost a week ago today, Iran hanged three men for consensual, gay sex. Even by Iranian standards, the case is extreme, because the law, which makes homosexuality punishable by death, is usually only enforced in cases where there is assault. Iran is just one of 82 countries where homosexuality is criminalised. Moreover, 40 of those countries are members of the commonwealth, and according to the Guardian, they have the British to thank for these laws, which were brought to them as part of the Empire’s package of legislation, designed to help civilise the natives. Campaigners are quietly fighting in lots of different ways. The struggle continues. Here is the Guardian report.